Exclusive – “SOCAR” Suspended Commercial Gas Price Increase

Despite the fact that a week ago “SOCAR Georgia Gas” sent an official letter to the legal entities about a tariff increase, today the company talks about the suspension of the decision stating that the company is not going to increase the tariff.
The company decided to suspend a decision to increase gas tariffs for commercial operators after the government session when Prime Minister called on the company to review the decision.

On February 5, Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili expressed his hope to reach an agreement with SOCAR and avoid the growth of gas tariffs.

In his words, he instructed Vice Premiers to begin negotiations with the Azerbaijani oil company SOCAR in order to avoid an increase in tariffs for natural gas in the country.

“Commersant” wondered whether the companies which will suffer from gas price hike know about SOCAR’s decision.

Rusudan Andriadze, Director of the bread company “Iberia 2012”, notes that the government promised not to increase the price of gas but the official decision is not yet known.

“Iberia 2012” at this stage does not plan to increase the price of bread and says gas price hike will be a big blow for the population.

In Andriadze’s words, the possibility of gas price hike by SOCAR is on the agenda, one sack of flour became expensive by GEL 2 and reached GEL 39-41, which is also a heavy burden for bread producers.

Shama Itamov, Deputy Director of “Ipkli” company , notes that despite an increase in gas tariff, “Ipkli” will not hike bread price by decreasing profits.